Free-Range Kids has become a national movement, sparked by the incredible response to Lenore Skenazy's piece about allowing her 9-year-old ride the subway alone in NYC. Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it. A lot of parents today, Skenazy says, see no difference between letting their kids walk to school and letting them walk through a firing range. Any risk is seen as too much risk. But if you try to prevent every possible danger or difficult in your child's everyday life, that child never gets a chance to grow up. We parents have to realize that the greatest risk of all just might be trying to raise a child who never encounters choice or independence. Library Journal Starred Review -- Skenazy flies the black flag of “America’s Worst Mom,” a title this syndicated columnist and NPR commentator earned by allowing her nine-year-old son to ride the New York City public transit alone in 2008. Here, she puts parents’ fears to bed by examining the statistical likelihood of the dangers we most fear (murder, baby-snatching, etc.). Drawing on facts, statistics, and humor, she convincingly argues that this is one of the safest periods for children in the history of the world, reiterating that “mostly, the world is safe…and mostly, people are good.” Even the lowest-flying helicopter parents would have trouble disagreeing that “we have entered an era that says you cannot trust yourself. Trust a product instead.” Skenazy argues that it’s time to retire the national pastime of worrying and that “childhood is supposed to be about discovering the world, not being held captive.” The obvious has never been so hilarious.

“Skenazy will find plenty of supporters for her contention that, in a world where the rights of chickens to roam freely are championed, it's time to liberate the kids.” (The Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2009)